230 Transactions of the [Sess. 



nan and Eugliruidlie at Tracht Rughruidhe in Ulster ; and the 

 Fir Gaillian or " Men of the Spear," so named from the gai or spears 

 with which they used to protect the rest while at work, and who 

 landed under Slainge at Inverslainge in Leinster. 



After the Firbolg had been in Ireland for thirty-six years, it was 

 invaded by a tribe of people from Alban or Scotland, named the 

 Tuatha de Danaan, who landed on a Monday, the 1st of May, in 

 the north of Ireland. In a great battle, fought at a place named 

 Muigh Tuireadh, they defeated the Firbolg, who are said to have 

 lost ten thousand men ; and then this important statement is 

 added : " The remainder of the Firbolg fled to the islands of 

 Arran, Isla, Eachlin, and Innisgall, where they remained until they 

 were driven out of the isles by the Cruithnigh or Picts." Among 

 the islands of the Innisgall were Colonsay and Oronsay ; and some 

 reliance may be placed on the above legend as narrating certain 

 facts in history, though surrounded with a halo of myth, which has 

 probably increased as time progressed. Still our knowledge of the 

 early inhabitants of the Western Isles all points to the southern 

 portion of them, if not also the northern, as having been peopled 

 from Ireland ; and this tends to show that there is a certain essence 

 of truth contained in these legends, even though it may be difficult 

 to eliminate it from that which is false. 



Nearly two hundred years are said to have elapsed, when, accord- 

 ing to the ' Book of Conquests,' a colony of Cruithnigh, or Picts, 

 came from Thrace overland through France to Ireland, having been 

 allowed to settle there by the sons of Miledh, on condition that 

 they drove out a people that were called the Tuatha Fidhbhe. 

 This conquest they succeeded in achieving ; but having become 

 rivals to Eireamon, the reigning king of Ireland, he in turn drove 

 them out of Ireland. But he seems to have somewhat relented, 

 for he is said to have given them the wives of some of his own 

 men that had been drowned, and even allowed six of them to 

 remain in Meath, locating them in the plains of Bregia. Those 

 that left Ireland went to dwell in the country beyond He or Isla, 

 and this last statement is corroborated by the ' Chronicle of the 

 Picts and Scots ' (p. 30), which is quite an independent source of 

 information ; and it adds, — ■" From there they went and conquered 

 Alban or Scotland, from Cath to Forchu," or from Caithness to the 

 Firth of Tay. Such statements as we have given require to be 

 received with great caution ; but the investigations of the best 

 Celtic critics go to prove that in these legends there are certain 

 elements of truth. Generally speaking, they may be accepted as 

 telling facts when they treat of the settlement or expulsion of a 

 nation, or when they give the names of men or places in Ireland 

 or Scotland. But when they narrate the heroic deeds of warriors 

 in battle, or the immense number of killed, the annihilation of a 



